


If Sokka was broken in chains, would Katara leave him?

by Currentlyexisting



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: ??? maybe it is?, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fire Nation Royal Family, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I love her dearly, I'll fix it some day, Like her character in general is so fucking tragic and I cannot deal with it, Post-The Last Agni Kai (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), Self Deprecating Zuko, Very minor katara but shes here!, Zuko (Avatar) is a Good Brother, Zuko is a good big brother, also i guess slight canon divergence, azula is sad, back to angst, but - Freeform, i don't think it's ever specified., i will write a long gen fic, idk - Freeform, it do be really short, it's about the implications, just so ya'll know, no beta we die like lu ten, nor will it be tomorrow, sad azula, some day, that is not today
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:34:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26677504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Currentlyexisting/pseuds/Currentlyexisting
Summary: “She’ll get help.” Katara sounds so bitter. “You need immediate attention.”“How could you-” He coughs before he can finish.His little sister has been alone for three years.
Relationships: Azula & Katara (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 133





	If Sokka was broken in chains, would Katara leave him?

Zuko’s heartbeat is erratic, Katara presses cool water to his chest and the searing, festering wound closes but does not heal. The ground is unbearably warm and the water is evaporating off of his skin as he bits a lip to stop from making any noise of pain. Azula’s in enough pain for the both of them. 

_ His little sister is hurting. _

Tortured screams and fire that looks a sickly green fill the still, night air. He’d thought she looked off. Looking back maybe it was that he hadn’t seen her so - (and unhinged isn’t the right word) - so desperate to prove herself - that she wasn’t so worthless. All Zuko can do is breathe deeply, numbly as Katara so calm and collected heals him while it’s his sister whose screams are a cry for help sobs because a broken heart (Because the little girl who he taught how to hold turtleducks has a heart) is so much more lethal than a burned one. And Zuko’s burns have healed a long time ago, but a bleeding heart that his sister never bandaged will bleed itself dry. 

“Katara, please let me-” He won’t acknowledge that it hurts to speak, that the crackle of electricity is rampaging in his heart. The girl (she’s only fourteen someone - help her) who he hugged when they cried was crying right now and he can’t move. He tries to prop himself up on his elbows anyway, Azula needs him. Azula needs  _ someone _ .

“You need to stay still Zuko, your heart-” Katara pushes him gently back down “You aren’t in any condition to move.”

And maybe he isn’t, but is his sister in any condition to be broken at age fourteen and sob so openly because she was never allowed to before? 

If there’s one thing Zuko knows, it’s that his nightmares won’t be filled with the sounds of his screams anymore. 

“Please, Katara - Azula needs help.” His voice runs ragged and horse rasps fall from his throat when he looks past the blues of the Water Tribe and onto the too-heavy metal armor, the thick hair that he once put in a bun, the make-up that Mother never taught her (“Your Sister is still young Turtleduck, she’ll understand one day.”). The tears that fall freely after years of bottling them inside a too small body. Zuko briefly wonders what more Azula might’ve said had he not made a night on ember island about himself. Maybe that she felt the same pressure he did, that they were both held to unreasonably high expectations. That even though one scar was visible to the naked eye, there were many more beneath the surface. 

“She’ll get help.” Katara sounds so bitter. “You need immediate attention.” 

“How could you-” He coughs before he can finish.

“Just stay still, you redirected lightning through your heart.” Two little sisters are crying. Zuko nods at one but is reminded of loud words from a tiny child. 

“You’ve got such a weak heart Zuzu!” Back before they were taunts and jeers about how he was weak. Back when it was concern for his habit of crying. “Father is going to see you.” Hushed whispers while they pet a turtleduck. “He’s going to hurt you.” 

“Let me see her.” Only two people in the courtyard can tell his voice is strained. The third is too busy hearing the words of a fourth and fifth person. Ears filled with contradictions as they war over what to think. The two look upon someone who’s hands tremble behind her back that wracked with sobs every time fire bursts from her mouth. Her head shakes violently from side to side. Enraged babblings escape quivering lips. 

“I don’t see why  _ you _ left me father.” He left her too. Zuko left his baby sister alone. “I  _ was _ perfect” 

“Zuko, I should get you inside, it’ll be easier with more equipment.” If Katara were injured, would she leave Sokka broken in chains?

“I’m staying.” He doesn’t have to think about an answer. “Please Katara-” A dry throat forces him to cough before continuing. “I can’t leave her here alone.” Hours after Katara has left and the others touch down to find Zuko sitting across from Azula, tears fall from the right side of his face and glassy eyes stare ahead. Make-up crying for a body that cannot anymore. 

They say no one moved from that courtyard for a day. 

That Fire Lord Zuko sat and cried for his sister who isn’t dead. 

Reports from years earlier document that Fire Lord Zuko never left his sister alone. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to be sad on main. 
> 
> Lemme know what you think though! Was I successful in my,, angstyness?


End file.
